Various different grounds can give rise to Business disputes in West Virginia. Often, businesses will disagree over the exact meaning of terms found in contracts or prior oral agreements. Billing issues and property matters also commonly form grounds for disagreements between businesses.

What to Do in a Business Dispute?

In a business dispute in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the parties should first go over any relevant documents, especially contracts. There might be terms in these documents that decide how to handle the dispute. However, the dispute might need to be taken to court if contracts do not have resolution clauses, or if there are no documents relevant to the dispute. West Virginia courts will look to your specific case and try to discover the best resolution. In determining the outcome, they will use a specific set of legal principles designed for situations where the parties have not agreed beforehand on how to handle a dispute. The laws designed to settle contract disputes are different in each state. Lawyers practicing in Parkersburg are versed in the contract law of West Virginia, and can help you to handle the dispute should it go to court. With an attorney's knowledge of the law, the parties of a dispute might be able to avoid going to court entirely, since negotiations often proceed more smoothly with representation.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Contracts occasionally have clauses that mandate resolution outside of court. Methods for reaching out of court solutions are often called Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR. Mediation and Arbitration are included in the concept of ADR. ADR focuses on reaching the same resolution that a court would have, without the parties actually going to court. Methods of ADR often involve their own protocols, occasionally bringing in a third party to find a solution based on local law. An attorney experienced with ADR in Parkersburg can counsel you through the process if your business dispute is to be resolved by ADR.